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Ten fantastic Swedish songs for February

February brings a haul of great new Swedish pop - let our music writer, Paul Connolly, take you through the very best.

Published: 5 February 2016 11:10 CET
Ten fantastic Swedish songs for February
Maja Francis. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

1. Niki & The Dove – So Much It Hurts

The brilliant Stockholm duo's new single channels Prince with late-period Human League with slinky, melancholy grace. Their second album, Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now, is due in April.

2. Vanbot – The Way You Say it

Vanbot is often compared to Robyn but The Way You Say It sounds like Goldfrapp being fronted by Kylie – which is obviously a recommendation.

3. Laser & Bas – Hot Daang

Swedish indie pop is in a creative rut at the moment so this gently strange, wonderfully melodic take on nervy Talking Heads-esque pop is a shot-in-the-arm.

4. Petra Marklund & Linnea Henrikson – Kidz

Two of Sweden's premier female voices on a sizzling slice of infectious pop.

5. Rein – Concrete Jungle

Anyone who uses the template of German electro-industrial pioneers D.A.F. as a platform for their take on brooding pop is well worth keeping an eye on.

6. Teddybears – Best You Ever Had feat Gorilla Joe

25 years on from their inception, Teddybears remain one of Sweden's more interesting bands – this banging blend of Chemical Brothers and Shaggy (not the Scooby Doo one!) is proof.

7. Nellie – You’re A Star

Nellie's only 16-years-old and her first single can sound a little callow – but we think her smoky voice might prove to be very popular. Keep an ear out for more.

8. Maja Francis – Come Companion

Maja Francis's latest bears the hallmarks of early Abba – anthemic, sweet and very catchy.

9. Kreep – Bitter Honey

This enigmatic Stockholm twenty-something may not remain mysterious for much longer if this euphoric, slightly odd, electronica is anything to go by.

10. Elliphant – Step Down

Another terrific single from Elliphant – what more can we say?

Listen to the Spotify playlist here.

CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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